I know this is a pointless tangent we're off on, but "hope" is a particular pet peeve of mine. Hope is not a motivator. In a lot of cases, when we hope something changes, we don't spend very much time trying to change it. For example, I could hope that "Mr. X" becomes mayor or I could go out and canvas the neighborhood, put out flyers, etc. Of course, with most action, you will also hope for a positive outcome, but hope alone is not a motivator, and hope ALONE, encourages inaction.
Despair is honestly more of a motivator than hope is. How many times have people been in a terrible situation and forced to work extra hard to create a better outcome. Yes, despair is not a positive feeling, but hope isn't all it's cracked up to be either. I'm not a pessimist, and there are times when hope is appropriate, e.g. when things are out of your control.
thanks for the explanation. Looks like we might have different meanings behind 'hope' here. I tend to think of it less in the way you describe here, and more like a vision of something I think is possible; hope is something that helps galvanise action.
eg, I hope to see my kids grow up with a reasonable level of immunity to brand-names, therefore, when we buy things we talk about things like what it's made of, how well will it suit our needs, how long do we expect it to last etc, and almost never mention what brand it is.
